ALLIED AND HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONS BILL, 2018

Central and State Allied and Healthcare Councils:

• An Allied and Healthcare Council of India and corresponding State Allied and Healthcare Councils will be setup by the Bill. An Interim Council will be constituted within 6 months of passing of the Act holding charge for a period of two years until the establishment of the Central Council.
  
  
• Mandate: The Councils will play the role of standard-setters and facilitators for professions of Allied and Healthcare. The State Council will undertake recognition of allied and healthcare institutions.
  
  
• Coverage: The Councils will include 15 major professional categories including 53 professions in Allied and Healthcare streams.
  
  
• Professional Advisory Bodies: Professional Advisory Bodies under Central and State Councils will examine issues in detail and provide recommendations relating to specific recognized categories.
  
  
• Composition: The Central Council will comprise 47 members (of which 14 members shall be ex-officio); The State Councils will comprise 28 members (of which 7 shall be ex-officio).
  
  
• Funding: The Council will be established as corporate body with a provision to receive funds from various sources. Councils will also be supported by Central and State Governments respectively through Grant-in-aid as needed.
  
  

Need of Bill:

• Our system is highly focused towards limited categories of professionals such as doctors, nurses and frontline workers (like Accredited Social Health Activist or ASHAs, Auxiliary Nurse Midwife or ANMs).
  
  
• However, there exist numerous Allied and Healthcare Professionals (A&HPs) who remain unidentified, unregulated and underutilised. Utilising the potential of A&HPs can reduce the cost of care and improve the accessibility to quality driven healthcare services.
  
  
• Globally, Allied and Healthcare Professionals typically attend undergraduate degree programme of a minimum 3-4 years and may attain up to PhD level qualification in their respective streams. However, most of Indian institutions offering such courses lack standardisation.
  
  
• Majority of the countries have a statutory regulatory body that is authorised to license and certify the qualifications of such professionals. This lacks in India.
  
  
• The Bill thus seeks to establish a robust regulatory framework which will help standardize allied healthcare and will provide employment to millions of youth in the country.